Manually cycling rounds through 1911- ok?

[Buckshot Bill]

Can I manually cycle live round nose ammunition through a 45 ACP 1911 without causing any damage to the extractor or ejector or other parts? [Obviously keeping my finger WELL AWAY from the trigger!]
It seems to me this shouldn't damage anything but am I correct? Doing this to see if a few of my reloads will function through the pistol before loading a whole lot and finding out they won't.

Thanks, Buckshot Bill

[Jack Dupp]

Yes, perfectly fine.

[knockonit]

should be a function that you do automatically to unit, learn to do it, safely and often, one never knows when a tap rack is required.
good luck, nothing like the venerable 1911, kills all day on one round

[Suck My Glock]

Actually, if you have a finely stoned match trigger job with a crisp let-off,...those are meant to only be cycled with the trigger depressed. Cycling without depressing the trigger CAN damage the fine tuning of SOME light match triggers (more accurately, the sear), potentially resulting in a sear wearing in such a manner that they no longer reliably catch the hammer. I have seen some of these at the moment they fail, ripping off in full-auto and dumping the mag.

If your 1911 has not been worked on and given a custom trigger job (or the sear not "stoned" as it is often called),...yes, it is safe to cycle the pistol by hand with the finger off the trigger. But accidents happen. Still follow the rules of safety.

I once was present many years ago as a friend was showing off his new Springfield Officer's Model he had just gotten back from the gunsmith. When the smith reassembled it, he had not properly replaced the bottom retaining pin on the mainspring housing and it either fell out or was missing entirely. This created just enough slop in the engagement of the hammer that when my friend (standing in front of us) inserted his magazine and cycled the slide to load the pistol (with his finger very obviously and appropriately off the trigger) BOOM!! Because he was observing the rules of safety, his muzzle was pointed at the ground and away from any of us. But that slug smacked the concrete floor and skipped right between the feet of another buddy standing next to me, and sailed over into the baseboard in his kitchen.

Meanwhile, we all schit out pants.

[Buckshot Bill]

Well, I didn't think it would be any different than when the gun is fired- but without the trigger being pulled. I didn't want to roll up 500 rounds and then find out they're a few thousandths too long and won't chamber!
It's a bone stock RIA 45 ACP officer's model, so no custom trigger job, but still, SMG, that's some good information to be aware of and I always remember those 4 rules of safety.
Ya just can't ever be too safe, and I sure don't ever want to be "that guy" that made the 6 o'clock news for a N. D.

Much obliged to all,
Buckshot Bill

[Doc]

Maybe just MY 1911

I would always keep the chamber empty in the safe. Rack one when I left the house. I felt it was a “function check.” I’d get home and clear it. Always on the lookout for a “different feeling.” Same one round getting all the work.

One day I thought the round looked “shorter” after comparing to the second in the magazine, it was in fact shorter.

I stopped that practice, just sharing my observations.

[blasternaz]

If I were to make a practice of this, I'd tie the trigger back and NOT LET IT LOOSE until I was done. This is how the gun functions in live fire, so emulating it for function checks is fine. Got into doing this many, many years ago after discussing dry fire training with the smith who built my target .45. I still to this day, load with the trigger back (depressed) until I move the safety lever up, then release the trigger. Yea, I've got a target shooter's background....

[smithers599]

1 - You won't damage the extractor or ejector if you cycle from the magazine into the chamber. If you lock the slide back, load a round into the chamber manually, then drop the slide, that could damage a 1911 extractor, by bending it outwards -- but you'd probably have to do it a lot to make the extractor so loose it became unreliable.

2. Every time you cycle a round through the chamber, it rattles the little "biscuit" of primer compound that is supposed to be crushed between the firing pin and the anvil. Do it enough times, and the "biscuit" could shatter and become inert. Then, a firing pin strike would produce a click instead of a bang. No big deal with practice ammo, but a bad thing in a gunfight. Be careful not to load and unload the same round of carry ammo into the chamber over and over again.

[pcmacd]

Actually, if you have a finely stoned match trigger job with a crisp let-off,...those are meant to only be cycled with the trigger depressed. Cycling without depressing the trigger CAN damage the fine tuning of SOME light match triggers (more accurately, the sear), potentially resulting in a sear wearing in such a manner that they no longer reliably catch the hammer. I have seen some of these at the moment they fail, ripping off in full-auto and dumping the mag.

If your 1911 has not been worked on and given a custom trigger job (or the sear not "stoned" as it is often called),...yes, it is safe to cycle the pistol by hand with the finger off the trigger. But accidents happen. Still follow the rules of safety.

I once was present many years ago as a friend was showing off his new Springfield Officer's Model he had just gotten back from the gunsmith. When the smith reassembled it, he had not properly replaced the bottom retaining pin on the mainspring housing and it either fell out or was missing entirely. This created just enough slop in the engagement of the hammer that when my friend (standing in front of us) inserted his magazine and cycled the slide to load the pistol (with his finger very obviously and appropriately off the trigger) BOOM!! Because he was observing the rules of safety, his muzzle was pointed at the ground and away from any of us. But that slug smacked the concrete floor and skipped right between the feet of another buddy standing next to me, and sailed over into the baseboard in his kitchen.

Meanwhile, we all schit out pants.

Agreed. A good trigger job on 1911 REQUIRES the trigger to be firmly pulled when racking or dropping the slide.

[QuangTri]

Learn something new again after all these years....thanks